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O-Zone Podcast: Bucky Brooks · The Jacksonville Jaguars Official Podcast Network

0:08
Speaker 1: Welcome to the ozone Podcast featuring Jaguars dot Com senior
0:13
Speaker 1: writer John Oser and Jaguars executive producer Dave the Kennis.
0:18
Speaker 1: Next week's guest I'm excited about and I think fans
0:21
Speaker 1: will be excited about two. It's Bucky Brooks, NFL network analysts.
0:26
Speaker 1: And the reason I'm excited about it he's gonna be
0:29
Speaker 1: joining us as a member of the Jaguars dot Com
0:32
Speaker 1: Jaguars Digital broadcast team this year for the first time.
0:36
Speaker 1: He played safety for the Jaguars in the nineties. I
0:39
Speaker 1: got to know him then and have gotten to know
0:41
Speaker 1: him in the last I don't know, maybe seven eight
0:44
Speaker 1: years at Senior Bowls, at NFL Combines. He's part of
0:48
Speaker 1: the NFL network coverage. But beyond that, he's a guy
0:52
Speaker 1: that because of his Jaguars connection, because he played, when
0:56
Speaker 1: you talk to him about the Jags, he has I
0:59
Speaker 1: think a lot more insight than maybe some other national guys.
1:02
Speaker 1: He has his eye on this team. So it's going
1:05
Speaker 1: to be a fascinating season to have him on board
1:08
Speaker 1: and providing his analysis. I think for that reason, today's
1:11
Speaker 1: those own podcasts will be fascinating as well. So a
1:15
Speaker 1: man with many titles in our world, it's former Jaguars
1:18
Speaker 1: defensive back Buckey Brooks. I remember Bucky well from covering
1:21
Speaker 1: him in the ninet nineties. I'm sure he remembers me.
1:25
Speaker 1: Not so fond of being a media but I do
1:29
Speaker 1: remember that, and Buckey welcome aboard. First of all, I'm
1:31
Speaker 1: excited about that. Hey, thanks so much, man, I'm really excited, John.
1:34
Speaker 1: I can't tell you how excited I am to reconnect
1:36
Speaker 1: with the Jaguars. UM My fondest memories as an NFL
1:40
Speaker 1: player took place in Jacksonville. The run that we went
1:43
Speaker 1: on in ninety was magical. Playing with great guys during
1:46
Speaker 1: that time, I call his teammate Nate dron Mains, playing
1:49
Speaker 1: with Jimmy Smith and Kenny McCardell, Mark Brunell, Tony Boselli,
1:54
Speaker 1: all of those guys. I learned a lot during my
1:56
Speaker 1: time there, and even um learning from coach car fun
2:00
Speaker 1: and the other coaches that want to staff, including Dick Grant,
2:03
Speaker 1: very impactful, uh in terms of the way that I
2:06
Speaker 1: view the game and continue to view the game now
2:08
Speaker 1: that I'm in a different role. I'm sure over the
2:11
Speaker 1: course of us working together, we'll have a lot of
2:14
Speaker 1: time this fall to get into all topics. But I
2:17
Speaker 1: do want to circle back a little later in this
2:18
Speaker 1: podcast on some of your nineteen nineties memories. People around
2:22
Speaker 1: here love listening to that, and it's been fun not
2:27
Speaker 1: letting those stories get lost. But I'd be remiss if,
2:31
Speaker 1: with all that's going on in the NFL, if I
2:34
Speaker 1: didn't ask you about the COVID stuff right now the league. Um,
2:39
Speaker 1: I guess, just what are your thoughts? And this is
2:41
Speaker 1: going to run in three or four days as a
2:43
Speaker 1: behind the your show, fans, behind the curtains, what you
2:47
Speaker 1: say could be entirely different three or four days. I
2:49
Speaker 1: get that things are changing so fast, But what's your
2:53
Speaker 1: feeling right now in the NFL season and just sort
2:55
Speaker 1: of how things are going right now? Well, one, I'm
2:59
Speaker 1: excited because see, when you've been around the game as
3:01
Speaker 1: long as we have been around it, your body clock
3:03
Speaker 1: kind of tells you when football season should be about
3:06
Speaker 1: the kick off, and so I'm excited that weird time,
3:08
Speaker 1: even seeing the little b road clips of guys walking
3:11
Speaker 1: into the facility get into COVID tests, the rookies reporting,
3:16
Speaker 1: knowing the veterans are a few days away from reporting.
3:18
Speaker 1: You begin to get excited about the prospect of football
3:20
Speaker 1: being played. Now, it's a different time. The pandemic is
3:24
Speaker 1: robbed us up an off season, a normal off season.
3:27
Speaker 1: We haven't had an opportunity to really get excited about
3:30
Speaker 1: our team because we haven't seen those guys and O
3:32
Speaker 1: t A s and mini camps and a lot of it.
3:35
Speaker 1: Is you talked about being able to just you know,
3:38
Speaker 1: trying to create stories and what observations and those things.
3:41
Speaker 1: So I'm excited to see that. I do believe it
3:44
Speaker 1: is different because of the protocols that are in place.
3:46
Speaker 1: I think the NFL has done a really good job
3:47
Speaker 1: of putting protocols in place to try and protect the
3:50
Speaker 1: players as best they can to opt out um arrangement
3:54
Speaker 1: where you have you're seeing players around the league opt
3:57
Speaker 1: out do the their own personal high risk conditions or
4:00
Speaker 1: the concern of family members of those in the inner circles,
4:04
Speaker 1: and so that is a little different. But I do
4:06
Speaker 1: believe the NFL that's had the lux you're being able
4:08
Speaker 1: to look at what some of the other leagues have done,
4:11
Speaker 1: hopefully UH learned from some of the mistakes that have
4:14
Speaker 1: taken place to put our players in the best position
4:17
Speaker 1: to make it through the season unscathed. I want to
4:20
Speaker 1: ask you about the end UM. I won't get into
4:24
Speaker 1: too many specifics again because by the time people hear this,
4:28
Speaker 1: there's probably gonna be different names that have been in
4:30
Speaker 1: the news since then. So, but as a former player,
4:34
Speaker 1: and I'm intrigued by the opt out thing, not necessarily
4:38
Speaker 1: from a financial standpoint and all that, but you know,
4:41
Speaker 1: as a formal as a foreign player, most players realize
4:45
Speaker 1: that careers are short and you've really got I'm sure
4:48
Speaker 1: when you played, you realize there's about five or six
4:51
Speaker 1: years realistically that you're gonna get a real shot to
4:53
Speaker 1: play this game. How difficult emotionally you think it is
4:57
Speaker 1: bucky for somebody deciding I'm gonna get of up one
5:00
Speaker 1: of those years, no matter what the reason is. Or
5:03
Speaker 1: do players think along the lines that I just spoke about. No,
5:06
Speaker 1: I think they absolutely think about that. And I think
5:08
Speaker 1: the fact that we're seeing guys walk away from two things,
5:13
Speaker 1: the game that they love and the game that rewards
5:15
Speaker 1: them handsomely financially, UM signifies how serious the pandemic is
5:20
Speaker 1: being treated by some And I think those that have
5:23
Speaker 1: been affected, UM, really you're paying close attention to this
5:27
Speaker 1: and are skewing towards opting out because they've had either
5:31
Speaker 1: family members, those that are close to them, people who
5:34
Speaker 1: have had uh extensions of the family UH impacted by
5:38
Speaker 1: the situation. I think that's what we're seeing. And I
5:41
Speaker 1: think because of that, I think guys are opting for
5:44
Speaker 1: health over everything else. And I really applaud them for
5:46
Speaker 1: that because it's really a selfless move to be able
5:50
Speaker 1: to do that. What would be selfish would be to
5:52
Speaker 1: sign up to play take the cash but then run
5:55
Speaker 1: the risk of inflicting and infecting those that are around you,
5:59
Speaker 1: those that you care dear about. UM. And so I
6:01
Speaker 1: think it's definitely a difficult decision, and I think the
6:04
Speaker 1: guys who have opted out emotionally it won't really hit
6:09
Speaker 1: them until the season kicks off. Like that's when you
6:13
Speaker 1: begin to miss the routine, missed the game. Uh, your
6:16
Speaker 1: Sundays are no longer what your Sundays have been. You
6:20
Speaker 1: missed the roar of the crowd and being able to
6:22
Speaker 1: participate in kind of show off your talents. And that's
6:25
Speaker 1: that's going to be something from an emotional standpoint, UH,
6:29
Speaker 1: the guys that opted out, what we have to deal
6:30
Speaker 1: with because once they opted out, they can't come around
6:33
Speaker 1: the team, they can't be a part of it. This
6:35
Speaker 1: is different than being an injured player, because even if
6:38
Speaker 1: you're on injury reserve and maybe you're rehabbing or whatever,
6:42
Speaker 1: you're still a part of the team. You still kind
6:44
Speaker 1: of feel a part of it. Especially on game day.
6:46
Speaker 1: Maybe you can go to the games and either sit
6:48
Speaker 1: in the box or being a sideline. For these players,
6:51
Speaker 1: I mean, this is being removed completely from the inner
6:54
Speaker 1: circle that they've been so closely their line with and
6:57
Speaker 1: your how this doesn't come into it that there's also,
7:00
Speaker 1: as you know in the NFL, there's an out of sight,
7:03
Speaker 1: out of mind, um. I mean, a Dante high Tower,
7:08
Speaker 1: somebody who's very prominent isn't gonna go through this. But
7:11
Speaker 1: if you're the thirty seven guy on the roster opting out,
7:15
Speaker 1: there's gotta be a little bit of a fear of
7:17
Speaker 1: ye know, Wally Pit Yeah, yeah, there's a I would
7:22
Speaker 1: think that has to play into it a little bit.
7:24
Speaker 1: Not that that can sway the decision because it is
7:26
Speaker 1: about health, but you know those guys have to be
7:28
Speaker 1: going through that a little bit too, right, absolutely. I
7:31
Speaker 1: mean it's the one thing that every player understands. Um
7:35
Speaker 1: we We've talked about it for years as players, Man,
7:37
Speaker 1: you can't make the club in the tough. You can't
7:39
Speaker 1: put yourself in a position where you're removed from the
7:43
Speaker 1: field and you've given gut an opportunity to take your spot.
7:47
Speaker 1: That is what happens in the National Football League year
7:49
Speaker 1: after year after year. I mean, just think about the
7:51
Speaker 1: quarterback situation that we have here in Jacksonville. We're going
7:54
Speaker 1: to miss you getting the opportunity to play when no
7:57
Speaker 1: one necessarily viewed him as the next coming. He gets
8:00
Speaker 1: an opportunity going to the field, he plays better than
8:03
Speaker 1: inspect and anticipated. He becomes a QB one of the team,
8:07
Speaker 1: and it was unexpected just because the door was cracked
8:10
Speaker 1: for him by an injury. And I think that is
8:13
Speaker 1: what these players have to deal with, because you talk
8:15
Speaker 1: about out of sight, out of mind. Coaches and general
8:18
Speaker 1: managers have to operate on and we gotta keep the
8:21
Speaker 1: train moving. And so it's unfortunate that we're losing these guys.
8:24
Speaker 1: We can pause for a minute and say, man, it's
8:26
Speaker 1: gonna be tough to move on without him, but we
8:28
Speaker 1: must carry on without him. And that's what all these
8:31
Speaker 1: teams are gonna do and so in one then you
8:35
Speaker 1: have a reset and you look at where you are. Yeah,
8:39
Speaker 1: I mean these guys, some of these guys that were
8:41
Speaker 1: French players, they could be left be harm for sure.
8:44
Speaker 1: It's an amazing Uh you've been around it probably about
8:49
Speaker 1: as long as I have. It's it's an unimaginable scenario
8:53
Speaker 1: for this season. Nobody could have ever written this six
8:58
Speaker 1: months ago, but it comes at you fast. Obviously, aside
9:01
Speaker 1: from COVID, Are there anything around the league, any issues
9:07
Speaker 1: that are fascinating you as this starts, or is the
9:10
Speaker 1: COVID thing so overwhelming? That's pretty much anybody's talking about. Well,
9:14
Speaker 1: I mean, I think COVID is obviously um first and
9:16
Speaker 1: foremost in everybody's mind. Like it's the health of the players, Um,
9:20
Speaker 1: it's the lack of preseason, it's the lack of work.
9:23
Speaker 1: Is the challenge or the opportunities that coaches have to
9:27
Speaker 1: set themselves apart from the rest of the pack by
9:29
Speaker 1: the way they handle and embrace this situation. Um, it
9:32
Speaker 1: is what it is. When it comes to the circumstances
9:35
Speaker 1: in the situation, the best teams have plans in place
9:38
Speaker 1: that will get their team ready to play. Teams that
9:42
Speaker 1: have a level of continuity, uh could be in advantageous situations. UM.
9:47
Speaker 1: Teams with coaches that have very clear plans but are
9:50
Speaker 1: able to take things that are complex and simplify so
9:53
Speaker 1: the young guys can get on board, they will have
9:55
Speaker 1: an opportunity. I think this year more than any other year,
9:58
Speaker 1: the first quarter of the sea and could be telling
10:01
Speaker 1: because the way the playoffs are set up, we have
10:04
Speaker 1: seven teams. Only the first seed gets home field advantage.
10:08
Speaker 1: If you can run out to a quick start and
10:10
Speaker 1: put yourself in a position where you can get the
10:12
Speaker 1: teen games, because the magic numbers typically tend to get
10:15
Speaker 1: you into the playoffs. If you can run out the
10:17
Speaker 1: first quarter to season three and one, uh four and oh,
10:21
Speaker 1: put yourself at the midway market six and two or so, man,
10:25
Speaker 1: the odds of you making the playoff really fall in
10:27
Speaker 1: your favor. And so I think the emphasis has to
10:30
Speaker 1: be on how can we get a fast start out
10:33
Speaker 1: the gate, how can we take advantage of whatever the
10:35
Speaker 1: circumstances are and find a way to get it done.
10:38
Speaker 1: I think those coaches, those teams, that's the storyline that
10:42
Speaker 1: I'm looking at, And you would think there hasn't been
10:46
Speaker 1: really a whole lot of talk about what happens if
10:48
Speaker 1: individual games get canceled, But there is an element early
10:53
Speaker 1: you know, you don't really know how many games all
10:56
Speaker 1: teams are gonna get in. I don't. I don't know
10:57
Speaker 1: that's a scenario, but you would think it's a possibility.
11:01
Speaker 1: You better win him when you can play him, right, Yeah,
11:03
Speaker 1: now I think that. I think, yeah, I think there's
11:05
Speaker 1: there's a possibility, And I think what you have to
11:07
Speaker 1: do is as coaches, you have to think about the
11:09
Speaker 1: here and there, and I'm gonna anticipate playing all sixteen games.
11:12
Speaker 1: I think as a general manager, maybe you stretch it
11:15
Speaker 1: out and you have kind of a broad range perspective
11:17
Speaker 1: on if this happens, this is what it could mean.
11:20
Speaker 1: Now looking at the schedule, I think there's a natural
11:23
Speaker 1: pad in the season where maybe they could push the
11:26
Speaker 1: Super Bowl back and add two more weeks if there
11:28
Speaker 1: was a serious delay or stop down. But hopefully everyone
11:33
Speaker 1: will take care of themselves, and I think a lot
11:35
Speaker 1: of it hinges on the players, certainly policing themselves and
11:38
Speaker 1: taking care of themselves, but also the limited interaction and
11:42
Speaker 1: engagement with fans. Do teams let fans eventually come back,
11:46
Speaker 1: even at a reduced capacity. How does that affect the
11:50
Speaker 1: potential spread of the buyers? UH teams that don't have
11:54
Speaker 1: fans in the stands, how does that affect the product
11:57
Speaker 1: on the field in terms of the way people play
11:59
Speaker 1: because you them with a lot of players who are
12:01
Speaker 1: used to having the energy and the noise and the
12:03
Speaker 1: buzz of the crowd, and then you don't have that.
12:04
Speaker 1: So it'll be very similar to the energy that is
12:09
Speaker 1: kind of conveyed during a practice setting or a scrimmage.
12:13
Speaker 1: Can you as a team have players that are mature
12:16
Speaker 1: enough to get themselves read up, repped up, and ready
12:19
Speaker 1: to go without the artificial energy that is sometimes created
12:24
Speaker 1: when you have fans in the stand part of this
12:27
Speaker 1: podcast today, Buck, is to give people a chance. I
12:30
Speaker 1: think most fans know you from the NFL network. I
12:33
Speaker 1: think even some Jaguars fans believe it or not, there's
12:36
Speaker 1: younger people than us who follow the NFL. Bucks that
12:39
Speaker 1: some people may not remember you when you played again,
12:44
Speaker 1: You're gonna be with us a lot, so we'll get
12:45
Speaker 1: a chance to get into a lot of the old days.
12:48
Speaker 1: But um, what, you know, what did plan for the
12:53
Speaker 1: Jags sort of mean to you. It's sort of a
12:56
Speaker 1: broadbrush question that you're part of ninety six, part of
12:59
Speaker 1: ninety seven you saw it. Is there anything that stands
13:02
Speaker 1: out that maybe shaped you into what you're doing now?
13:06
Speaker 1: Did you learn anything from Caufman? Do you learnything from
13:08
Speaker 1: some vetterans anything along those lines? Yeah, A few different things,
13:11
Speaker 1: um that I took away from my experience in Jackson.
13:13
Speaker 1: We're going there in the middle of UH ninety six
13:16
Speaker 1: and playing the first through the first quarter, first half
13:20
Speaker 1: of ninety seven. I learned a lot. Um One, I
13:23
Speaker 1: learned the importance of hoping optimism UH ninety six being
13:27
Speaker 1: in the locker room where we were sitting at three
13:29
Speaker 1: and six or three and seven, and then going on
13:32
Speaker 1: a magical run where we finished nine and seven. We
13:34
Speaker 1: go into the playoffs, we knock off the Buffalo Bills
13:37
Speaker 1: on the road, we knock off the number one seed,
13:39
Speaker 1: the Devil Broncos, and then we fall short against the
13:42
Speaker 1: New England Patriots. I think I learned, um, it's never
13:45
Speaker 1: over in terms of your season, that you can always
13:49
Speaker 1: pull it together, that a group of players with good
13:52
Speaker 1: coaching can find a way to find their identity and
13:55
Speaker 1: have success down the stretch. So that's what I took away.
13:58
Speaker 1: I think from coach car Flynn. You know, it's tough
14:01
Speaker 1: because I was a young player. I bristled at some
14:03
Speaker 1: of the rules that he had in place. Um, I
14:05
Speaker 1: couldn't really understand it fully in terms of a no
14:09
Speaker 1: hass on in the building, everyone wearing the exact same thing,
14:11
Speaker 1: the concentration line, helmets, buckled up, uh, Jacksonville or Coughlan
14:17
Speaker 1: time five minutes early. But John, what I can tell
14:20
Speaker 1: you is outside of what I do now in terms
14:22
Speaker 1: of media obligations. I'm now head high school coach, and
14:27
Speaker 1: as much as I hate to say it, but we
14:29
Speaker 1: operate on Granada time, which is five minutes early. We
14:33
Speaker 1: have policies in place where we expect guys to wear
14:36
Speaker 1: the same things on the field and all those things.
14:39
Speaker 1: So I think what I took is the wisdom of
14:41
Speaker 1: a very discipline and detailed program and how particularly with
14:45
Speaker 1: young guys, it can work. But um, there has to
14:48
Speaker 1: be a synergy there between the players and the coaches.
14:52
Speaker 1: There has to be a level of trust and communication.
14:55
Speaker 1: I would say that maybe a little more communication um
14:59
Speaker 1: between Scoffland and the rest of the crew could have
15:01
Speaker 1: served it well, but it's hard to dispute the results.
15:03
Speaker 1: When you look at the record and the success that
15:05
Speaker 1: he had done in Jacksonville, you appreciate this buck. For years,
15:09
Speaker 1: I had a laminated black and white concentration line sign
15:15
Speaker 1: that I actually took. I covered the training camp and
15:19
Speaker 1: Stevens Point the year before you got there, and as
15:22
Speaker 1: they were packing up, there was a concentration line sign
15:25
Speaker 1: above one of the hallways or something and I grabbed that,
15:28
Speaker 1: rolled it up, had it for years. Not sure I
15:30
Speaker 1: still have it, but it was. It was my little
15:33
Speaker 1: moment because Tom wanted us concentrating too. I mean, the
15:36
Speaker 1: media had a big job. Yeah, it's it's it's funny
15:39
Speaker 1: with with all of that, um like just just all
15:42
Speaker 1: of the rules and all the other stuff or whatever.
15:44
Speaker 1: But the time Downe and Jacksonville was really special for me.
15:48
Speaker 1: For For one, I was a guy that was drafted
15:50
Speaker 1: as a wide receiver UH switched to Green Bay when
15:53
Speaker 1: I was in UH. I switched to cornerback when I
15:56
Speaker 1: was in Green Bay. UM, I had a chance to
15:59
Speaker 1: play sparingly. But when I got to Jackson I got
16:01
Speaker 1: a chance to get on the field. Part of that
16:02
Speaker 1: will due to Ji Geron understanding the program at Green
16:06
Speaker 1: Bay because he had previously come from that. Also his
16:08
Speaker 1: trust and confidence. Uh, he just was was a guy
16:12
Speaker 1: who was completely different than other coaches I've been around.
16:14
Speaker 1: Early he said, look, whatever you think you may do
16:16
Speaker 1: in a game, doing practice, and so the encouragement to
16:20
Speaker 1: make your mistakes in practice when it doesn't matter so
16:23
Speaker 1: you can be confident enough in the game. That stuck
16:25
Speaker 1: with me. And then the final piece of it, and
16:27
Speaker 1: I'm glad. I'm so glad that there's been the reboot
16:30
Speaker 1: of the uniform. I always loved the uniform. I always
16:33
Speaker 1: loved the black helmet. I love seeing the Jaguar on
16:37
Speaker 1: the side. Just the simplicity of what the uniforms were
16:40
Speaker 1: when I was there, to see them kind of go
16:42
Speaker 1: back to something that is familiar to me. I just
16:44
Speaker 1: love the look, I love the logo, I love everything
16:47
Speaker 1: about it. So I'm just kind of excited to be
16:50
Speaker 1: reconnected with it because it's been a huge part of
16:53
Speaker 1: my success, like as a player, but then also later
16:56
Speaker 1: in life. Yeah, from talking to you over the years,
16:58
Speaker 1: it's a combines and senior Bowl. Even before you joined us,
17:01
Speaker 1: you always had a soft spot in your heart for
17:03
Speaker 1: this franchise. It was where you spent your best years
17:05
Speaker 1: as a player. So yeah, myself, did you now? I
17:11
Speaker 1: know it? But for the fans, take me through your
17:13
Speaker 1: path from the NFL to the NFL network you were
17:17
Speaker 1: a scout for I think it was seven years if
17:19
Speaker 1: I remember that, right, Yeah, yeah, yeah, So my journey,
17:24
Speaker 1: um is mentastine and some of this. I also was
17:26
Speaker 1: intrigued because Ron Hill was u high ranking personnel official
17:32
Speaker 1: that was there, and I remember talking to Ron all
17:34
Speaker 1: the time about players. I was a bit of a
17:36
Speaker 1: gym wrap. I love watching film. I was always fascinated
17:38
Speaker 1: by the team building process, all the coaches that impacted
17:42
Speaker 1: me at one time another with the Hall of famers
17:44
Speaker 1: or Super Bowl winners, and um, I just love the
17:48
Speaker 1: process of watching how a team was built. I would
17:50
Speaker 1: ask uh Ron a bunch of different questions about scouting
17:54
Speaker 1: and evaluation in those things. So I thought it was
17:56
Speaker 1: in my future when I got done. And so when
17:58
Speaker 1: I retired, UM, I got a chance to reconnect with
18:01
Speaker 1: John Snyder, who had been a personnel assistant in Green
18:04
Speaker 1: Bay when I was there, and also in Kansas City.
18:06
Speaker 1: He was to pro director when I was there, So
18:08
Speaker 1: he takes a job in Seattle, gives me an opportunity
18:10
Speaker 1: to be a scout, and for seven years, three with
18:13
Speaker 1: the Seattle Seahawks and then four with the Carolina Panthers,
18:16
Speaker 1: I was on the road as a college scout, kind
18:18
Speaker 1: of learning the business, learning how to evaluate players, writing reports,
18:22
Speaker 1: doing those things, hopefully making contributions to the franchise. In
18:25
Speaker 1: terms of the process, I'm still finding my way because
18:28
Speaker 1: the transition from being a player to a front office
18:31
Speaker 1: executive is hard. So they were maybe some missteps along
18:34
Speaker 1: the way, but I learned a lot and walking away
18:37
Speaker 1: from there though, I was always fascinated though by what
18:41
Speaker 1: media members did in terms of presenting the story. And
18:44
Speaker 1: I will say this and hopefully it doesn't come on bad,
18:46
Speaker 1: but there was a part of me that always wanted
18:48
Speaker 1: to share my opinion with the world. I just felt like,
18:51
Speaker 1: because I've been impacted by so many great minds, so
18:54
Speaker 1: many great football people, that maybe I could interpret things
18:57
Speaker 1: and provide analysis that was a little different. So um
19:01
Speaker 1: leaving the Carolina Panthers in two thousand and seven, I
19:03
Speaker 1: started freelancing for Sports Illustrated dot com for a couple
19:06
Speaker 1: of years. I lashed onto the NFL NFL Media in
19:10
Speaker 1: two thousand and nine, and I've continued to kind of
19:12
Speaker 1: build on that process writing, uh, doing TV, doing podcasts,
19:17
Speaker 1: all of those things. But I must say, John, like,
19:19
Speaker 1: and I've never shared this with you, like, there is
19:21
Speaker 1: something about being able to kind of make stories come
19:23
Speaker 1: to life through the power of the pen or the
19:25
Speaker 1: computer keyboard, and so I am fascinated by writers and
19:29
Speaker 1: how writers are able to do it. And so it's
19:31
Speaker 1: one of those things that I always wanted to do
19:33
Speaker 1: because I had so much respect for the craft, and
19:35
Speaker 1: so it's it's been one of those things. So I've
19:37
Speaker 1: been lucky to be able to kind of like fulfill
19:39
Speaker 1: some dreams and do it along the way and still
19:41
Speaker 1: be able to kind of be connected to the game. Well,
19:43
Speaker 1: hopefully the Jaguars can hire a good writers so you
19:45
Speaker 1: can work with Will work on that broke down good
19:50
Speaker 1: if you were thinking you were getting that for me,
19:51
Speaker 1: I apologize an event that and uh, just so fans note,
19:55
Speaker 1: Bucky will be providing and uh executing a weekly written
20:01
Speaker 1: analysis piece for Jaguars dot Com looking back on each game,
20:04
Speaker 1: sort of breaking down film and I sort offering his
20:07
Speaker 1: thoughts on that front. And it will also be part
20:10
Speaker 1: of a lot of our weekly shows, So again looking
20:13
Speaker 1: forward to having that inside as part of our broadcast
20:16
Speaker 1: this year. Um, what did you learn do you think
20:22
Speaker 1: as a scout that helps you the most about trying
20:26
Speaker 1: to break down how the league works? Because the reason
20:29
Speaker 1: I asked that is a lot of times, in my experience,
20:33
Speaker 1: players are so involved with it on a daily basis
20:36
Speaker 1: and so focused on what they're doing that sometimes players
20:41
Speaker 1: on the air don't always have a great idea of
20:46
Speaker 1: the big picture of the NFL. My guess is that
20:49
Speaker 1: having played and scouted, you feel like you have a
20:54
Speaker 1: pretty good grasp of the big picture compared to if
20:57
Speaker 1: you had just played. Yeah, a few different things, and
20:59
Speaker 1: I think a couple of different things. It's funny because,
21:01
Speaker 1: like you don't know this at the time, but sometimes
21:03
Speaker 1: your struggle actually brings about a perspective that really helps
21:07
Speaker 1: you later in life. So for me, even though I
21:09
Speaker 1: may have come in as a second round pick, the
21:12
Speaker 1: majority of my career, I was a journeyman. I was
21:14
Speaker 1: a guy on the bubble. I was a guy that
21:16
Speaker 1: had to play special teams. I had to kind of
21:18
Speaker 1: find a way to create value to teams. And so
21:22
Speaker 1: for Jacksonville. There I remember playing corner and uh nicol
21:25
Speaker 1: and dime back and returning kicks and being a backup
21:28
Speaker 1: pump returner and all those other things. Well, at the time,
21:31
Speaker 1: I was like, man, this is tough. This is a
21:33
Speaker 1: lot of stuff that I've never done because I didn't
21:35
Speaker 1: do these things in college. But here I am trying
21:37
Speaker 1: to make my way in a role that is unfamiliar. However,
21:40
Speaker 1: that perspective now allows me maybe to look at um
21:44
Speaker 1: the game from a broader lens, to look at it
21:46
Speaker 1: from the importance of depth and backups and guys that
21:49
Speaker 1: can be multiple, multiple positional players that can come in
21:53
Speaker 1: and do different things. From a team building standpoint, how
21:56
Speaker 1: vital those second teamers are, how important it is to
21:59
Speaker 1: the all of the young players, because I was a
22:01
Speaker 1: young player trying to learn how to do it. And
22:04
Speaker 1: then you take those things combined with some of the
22:07
Speaker 1: things that I learned from Coach Coughland in terms of
22:10
Speaker 1: things that are critical to team building and winning games.
22:13
Speaker 1: Not turning the ball over, uh, making sure that uh
22:17
Speaker 1: you can control the controllables, being detailed and disciplined, and
22:21
Speaker 1: and hey, let's make sure we keep the ball in
22:22
Speaker 1: front of let the ball flower his let's reduce and
22:25
Speaker 1: eliminate some of the big plays on offense, making sure
22:29
Speaker 1: that you have a quarterback that can get you out
22:31
Speaker 1: of trouble, like Mark Brunell could. Everything might not be
22:34
Speaker 1: lined up perfectly, but he can make plays. The combination
22:37
Speaker 1: of two receivers Jimmy Smith and Keena mccardeal and what
22:39
Speaker 1: they did understanding the importance of offensive tackles when you
22:43
Speaker 1: have Leon Searcy and Tony Boselli's two booking players. Um
22:48
Speaker 1: it taught me a lot about what's necessary to build
22:51
Speaker 1: a championship team. And even though we didn't get over
22:54
Speaker 1: the top, we didn't make it to the Super Bowl,
22:56
Speaker 1: we got to the championship game. That team was good
22:59
Speaker 1: enough to make it to the super Bowl, and so
23:01
Speaker 1: being on the team seeing how it worked, it really
23:04
Speaker 1: helped shape what I believe are necessary ingredients to building
23:08
Speaker 1: a championship cake. See, you make the transition to corner
23:13
Speaker 1: and then you show up in Jacksonville and you've got
23:14
Speaker 1: to cover Jimmy and keenan every day. Right for fans,
23:18
Speaker 1: you know it's been Watson says, guys played and a
23:20
Speaker 1: lot of the older fans, everybody knows the names, but
23:23
Speaker 1: I guess break down each of those guys. Uh. I
23:27
Speaker 1: think sometimes it gets lost. I consider that one of
23:29
Speaker 1: the easily top five, top seven tandems of wide receivers
23:34
Speaker 1: ever to play. I don't think they get the credit
23:35
Speaker 1: for that, but I think they're both, you know, unbelievable.
23:41
Speaker 1: Unbelievable due individually and collectively. I think combine what they
23:46
Speaker 1: what they gave Jackson with, they gave the team the
23:49
Speaker 1: opportunity to attack the defense in a variety of ways.
23:52
Speaker 1: I'll say this, Jimmy Smith was a consummate number one receiver.
23:56
Speaker 1: He's the prototypical number one receiver that you want um
23:59
Speaker 1: at the time. Like people won't say big now, but
24:02
Speaker 1: at the time, six to plus pounds, that was a
24:05
Speaker 1: big receiver, four four speed. Uh. They would put him
24:09
Speaker 1: at the backside of the formation at X and man.
24:12
Speaker 1: He could take the top off the defense. He could
24:14
Speaker 1: run the out, he could run the dig. He could
24:16
Speaker 1: go buy you. He was physical in terms of walking
24:19
Speaker 1: up to press him. He was such a physical receiver
24:22
Speaker 1: with zero to sixty acceleration that mean it just made
24:25
Speaker 1: it puts you in a bond when you were one
24:26
Speaker 1: on one with him. From other teams. Buck He used
24:29
Speaker 1: to talk about how you couldn't go press him because
24:33
Speaker 1: he was so strong that if you got your hands
24:36
Speaker 1: on him, he just knocked them off. And then he
24:39
Speaker 1: was so big that once he got a step on you,
24:42
Speaker 1: he would get his butt on you and you couldn't
24:44
Speaker 1: get back around because he was so big. He was impossible,
24:47
Speaker 1: and he did most of his damage from hash to sidelines.
24:50
Speaker 1: He was so good. He has what I think is
24:52
Speaker 1: is really rare, and I think when we look at
24:54
Speaker 1: why receivers, even when we begin to look at our
24:56
Speaker 1: own guys, uh DJ Chark and those guys, the hardest
25:00
Speaker 1: thing to find is a wide receiver who has outstanding
25:03
Speaker 1: speed but the ability to stop and start. So most
25:07
Speaker 1: of the time when you have fast guys, fast guys
25:09
Speaker 1: can only go vertical, meaning they only can go down
25:11
Speaker 1: the field, big plays, deep shots. It is rare that
25:14
Speaker 1: you can find a fast guy that can stop and
25:17
Speaker 1: do the dirty work comebacks, dig routes or whatever. Jimmy
25:20
Speaker 1: Smith could do that. The other thing that was really
25:23
Speaker 1: impressive with him strong hands, his ability to catch the
25:27
Speaker 1: ball in a crowd, his ability to pluck it to
25:29
Speaker 1: go over the middle. Uh fearless in the way that
25:32
Speaker 1: he went about his business. But what is interesting is
25:35
Speaker 1: he had the perfect compliment on the other side, because
25:39
Speaker 1: Keenan is what I call the crafty receiver that wins
25:44
Speaker 1: UH in the slot. Meaning Kenyan wasn't the fastest UH,
25:49
Speaker 1: he wasn't the most imposing physically, But what he had
25:52
Speaker 1: is he had every trick in the bag. I mean
25:55
Speaker 1: he could UH. People to talk about this and were
25:58
Speaker 1: referred to it. He had a dead le egg. He
26:00
Speaker 1: had a hesitation move where he could just kind of
26:03
Speaker 1: throw his leg in the ground with his shoulders going
26:05
Speaker 1: forward that would make you think he was stopping, and
26:08
Speaker 1: he could immediately restop and create separation over the middle
26:12
Speaker 1: of the field. And when you have someone who is
26:14
Speaker 1: patient and crafty and such a precise route runner like
26:19
Speaker 1: he was man third down, you didn't know where the
26:22
Speaker 1: ball was going. It could go to gym because he's
26:24
Speaker 1: the number one. But if you overload the defense to Jimmy,
26:28
Speaker 1: Keenan McCarter could wear out your second and third corner
26:32
Speaker 1: with his assortment of hesitations, his his different moves at
26:36
Speaker 1: the top of routes, and so it really gave them
26:39
Speaker 1: an unbelievable combination and man, just Keenan was so good.
26:42
Speaker 1: And I think because he was so good in the
26:45
Speaker 1: way that he had to play, I think he's made
26:47
Speaker 1: him my outstanding coach because he is able to break
26:52
Speaker 1: the position down into small pieces to help players, all
26:57
Speaker 1: types of players work on their games. I think that's
27:00
Speaker 1: why you've seen so many young players that have been
27:03
Speaker 1: touched by him in Jacksonville have success because he is
27:07
Speaker 1: able to spoon feed them the fundamentals and if they
27:09
Speaker 1: take the teaching and work at it, they become really
27:12
Speaker 1: good players, which is why you saw DJ just really
27:15
Speaker 1: explode last season. If you see Keenan, which I'm sure
27:18
Speaker 1: you do on occasion, a couple of things, Bucky, don't
27:22
Speaker 1: tell him he wasn't the number one, and don't tell
27:28
Speaker 1: him that he's still not the number one, because he
27:31
Speaker 1: still thinks he can. But you know that is funny
27:35
Speaker 1: because it was such a healthy competition between those guys,
27:39
Speaker 1: and I would say both of those guys were great
27:41
Speaker 1: to me. Um as a player, there was on the
27:44
Speaker 1: line because sometimes, like what it happened is, uh, if
27:47
Speaker 1: you're the backup player, you're playing scout team, and scout
27:50
Speaker 1: team can be a tricky deal for the scout because
27:56
Speaker 1: coaches don't necessarily want you beating up the top player.
28:00
Speaker 1: And so those are two of our best players on
28:02
Speaker 1: the offense. So when you challenge them, you can challenge them.
28:04
Speaker 1: But there's a line. However, Jimmy and Keenan love the
28:08
Speaker 1: competition of it all, so it would enable you to
28:11
Speaker 1: really play like it was game like against those guys.
28:15
Speaker 1: And so then when you would get that competition each
28:17
Speaker 1: and every day, when you did get an opportunity to
28:20
Speaker 1: play in games, you're better prepared for the game. And
28:22
Speaker 1: so I have a tremendous amount of respect for both
28:25
Speaker 1: of those guys. And I'll say this about them because
28:27
Speaker 1: it's personal to me. When I got let go and
28:30
Speaker 1: released from Jacksonville, both of those guys called me, and
28:33
Speaker 1: I feel like at a time, and so for for players,
28:37
Speaker 1: it can be a weird deal. You've been around players
28:39
Speaker 1: or whatever. It's a weird deal when you play for
28:41
Speaker 1: a team and you can be around guys every day,
28:43
Speaker 1: but when you get cut, sometimes you may not hear
28:45
Speaker 1: from that peer group that you're around ever again. And
28:49
Speaker 1: the fact that both of those guys, Jimmy and Keenan
28:52
Speaker 1: both took the time to call me and to check
28:55
Speaker 1: up on me in the days following. It really meant
28:57
Speaker 1: a lot, and it really fortified my bond with both
28:59
Speaker 1: of those us. Yeah, that's there's a lot of times players,
29:03
Speaker 1: you know, they think if they call somebody who's been
29:05
Speaker 1: it's gonna happen to them. Now, you know, there's a
29:07
Speaker 1: little bit of a fear there. Yeah, they't want to
29:10
Speaker 1: talk to somebody who's outside the bubble, superstitious. Yeah, I
29:14
Speaker 1: don't want to go don't happen to me? For sure.
29:17
Speaker 1: We could talk about the nineties forever, because there's a
29:20
Speaker 1: million stories. But let's talk about this year's Jaguars. I
29:26
Speaker 1: know you follow this team, maybe as close as any
29:29
Speaker 1: national analysts. I first, let's get to Minshew. We'll cover
29:35
Speaker 1: a couple of topics, and we've got the whole offsea,
29:36
Speaker 1: you know, the whole season. Talk about him as well.
29:39
Speaker 1: Tell me about Gardner. You know, you see different things.
29:43
Speaker 1: Some people say, hey, he had the stats last year,
29:47
Speaker 1: why isn't he considered more of a promising quarterback? And
29:51
Speaker 1: there's other people who say, hey, there's limitations here. You
29:55
Speaker 1: see both sides. Where do you stand? What do you
29:57
Speaker 1: think of them? You know, I think it was very
29:59
Speaker 1: impressive what he was able to do. And I think
30:02
Speaker 1: governament she was the classic example or the prime example
30:06
Speaker 1: of why you can't put all of your eggs in
30:09
Speaker 1: the preseason basket, because when you watched him in the preseason,
30:12
Speaker 1: you just didn't know Um. And look, it's an adjustment,
30:16
Speaker 1: as an adjustment for young players adapting to the speed
30:18
Speaker 1: of the game, also adapting to the players that you're
30:20
Speaker 1: playing with. Some of the guys that you're playing with
30:22
Speaker 1: in the preseason may or may not make the team,
30:24
Speaker 1: and so you don't have everything working in your favor.
30:27
Speaker 1: But I will say this, when he got an opportunity
30:28
Speaker 1: to play in real games, he was really impressive. Quick
30:31
Speaker 1: rhythm Passer had a real good understanding of what to
30:34
Speaker 1: do with the football, and that's hard for young players.
30:37
Speaker 1: I've heard him talk about being prepared for that because
30:40
Speaker 1: he had to always learn different offenses when he was
30:42
Speaker 1: in college. He had to learn the air ray system
30:44
Speaker 1: at Washington State, UM showing up very very late in
30:47
Speaker 1: the process, and he was able to do it and
30:48
Speaker 1: it served him well going forward. UM Quick Rhythm Passer
30:53
Speaker 1: uh good job of distributing and using all the areas
30:55
Speaker 1: of the field Um. I think the best thing that
30:57
Speaker 1: you can find for quarterbacks of guys who can quoe
31:00
Speaker 1: unquote paint by numbers, meaning they let the system work
31:02
Speaker 1: for them. They get the ball to the open guy,
31:05
Speaker 1: and they don't discriminate when it comes to it. However,
31:08
Speaker 1: he takes that and as to the point that he
31:10
Speaker 1: gives his playmakers opportunities to make plays, He'll throw some
31:13
Speaker 1: fifty fifty balls up there to chart to allow him
31:15
Speaker 1: to make it happen, and he was successful with that.
31:18
Speaker 1: He's athletic enough to use his legs um in a way.
31:22
Speaker 1: And I won't say this because like people have polarizing
31:24
Speaker 1: opinions sometimes on Baker Mayfield, but I think you could
31:27
Speaker 1: really surmise that there's not really a lot of difference
31:30
Speaker 1: between the way he plays in the way Baker Mayfield plays,
31:32
Speaker 1: and that if he is supported not only with players
31:36
Speaker 1: around him, but in a system that highlights his strengths
31:39
Speaker 1: as a cerebral playmaker, he could be a long time
31:41
Speaker 1: starting quarterback. Now, will he be a Tier one quarterback,
31:45
Speaker 1: I don't know because there are some physical limitation, But
31:47
Speaker 1: can he be a winning quarterback? Absolutely? And I think
31:51
Speaker 1: that is what we say and I think the expectation,
31:53
Speaker 1: particularly when Jay Grumen gets his hands on him, is
31:55
Speaker 1: that he is going to play winning football at the position,
31:58
Speaker 1: and they have to figure out a way to put
32:00
Speaker 1: the pieces around him in the best situation to help
32:04
Speaker 1: him elevate, meaning Leonard four Nett. Can they create a
32:07
Speaker 1: running game that enables Leonard for Nette to play at
32:10
Speaker 1: his best while also having a play action passing game
32:13
Speaker 1: and a passing game that fits going to minsh you.
32:16
Speaker 1: That's the challenge that Jay Gruden has in crafting that offense.
32:20
Speaker 1: We're Gonna miss you is certainly good enough to be
32:22
Speaker 1: a playoff quarterback very quickly. Any particular thing that that
32:28
Speaker 1: you want to see from Menshew, I don't know the
32:31
Speaker 1: first month is fair. It's gonna be a weird first month,
32:33
Speaker 1: I get that. But anything tangible, pocket presence, red zone,
32:37
Speaker 1: any particular thing you want to see from him to
32:39
Speaker 1: say yes, he's making progress. I want to continue to
32:42
Speaker 1: see him make better decisions and improve his overall efficiency.
32:47
Speaker 1: Even though we don't judge accuracy by completion percentage UH
32:50
Speaker 1: in today's game, completion rate is kind of like the
32:54
Speaker 1: standard what you want to see trying quarterbacks. So the
32:57
Speaker 1: fact that he was at sixty is not quite there.
32:59
Speaker 1: So you want to see him push him up, push
33:01
Speaker 1: it up over while also keeping that touchdown to interception
33:06
Speaker 1: ratio where it is. If he ups the completion rate
33:09
Speaker 1: and keeps the touchdowns where it is, you'll see his
33:11
Speaker 1: passer rate and go over a hundred. Men. If your
33:14
Speaker 1: quarterback is operating at that kind of efficiency, it bowls
33:17
Speaker 1: well for your team to win a lot of games.
33:19
Speaker 1: In a nutshell, who is Jay Gruden as an offensive
33:23
Speaker 1: coordinator described what he what does that higher mean for
33:28
Speaker 1: this team? When you getting an offensive coordinator who wants
33:32
Speaker 1: to operate what I call a ball control offense is
33:36
Speaker 1: ball control with prey playmakers front of mine, meaning he
33:40
Speaker 1: wants to examine the talents that he has and he
33:43
Speaker 1: wants to put the ball in the hands of his
33:44
Speaker 1: best players doing what they do well, while also considering
33:48
Speaker 1: the strengths and weaknesses of his quarterback. We saw that
33:51
Speaker 1: happen for him when he was the offensive coordinator in
33:54
Speaker 1: Cincinnati for Andy Dalton. Andy Dalton played at a high
33:58
Speaker 1: level under j Gruden. When he goes to watch Eton,
34:01
Speaker 1: he has an opportunity with Kirk Cousins, even though he's
34:05
Speaker 1: not necessarily the coordinator. He's still in charge of calling
34:08
Speaker 1: the plays and doing those things. We saw Kirk Cousins
34:10
Speaker 1: play at a at a pretty high level under him.
34:13
Speaker 1: I think what you would like to see him do
34:15
Speaker 1: is continue to do those same things in Jacksonville while
34:18
Speaker 1: also understanding where the weaknesses and the efficiencies. Uh, are
34:23
Speaker 1: we good enough at the offensive line to be able
34:26
Speaker 1: to do some of these things? If we're not, what
34:28
Speaker 1: can I do from a schematic standpoint to cover those
34:30
Speaker 1: things up? That's what offensive coordinators have to be able
34:34
Speaker 1: to do. They have to be able to look at
34:35
Speaker 1: everything that they have, the good and the bad, and
34:38
Speaker 1: figure out this is the best way for us to play,
34:41
Speaker 1: for us to win games. But the players that we
34:43
Speaker 1: have sounds like you like DJ Chark. What's his feeling?
34:47
Speaker 1: Where do you see him having? Man? Look? He he
34:50
Speaker 1: really exploded a thousands of yards season, eight touchdowns, averaged
34:53
Speaker 1: almost fourteen yards per catch um. I think he's the
34:55
Speaker 1: number one receiver and I think, Uh, once again, we
34:58
Speaker 1: talked about guys that are explode so but have start
35:01
Speaker 1: start quickness. He has that continue to get better. I
35:04
Speaker 1: think now the thing is now that he's uh, he's
35:07
Speaker 1: a known commodity and people know him. The challenge for
35:11
Speaker 1: DJ and what separates the number one receivers from the
35:13
Speaker 1: number two's. Number one receivers are are able to continue
35:17
Speaker 1: to produce despite facing double teams, despite being the center attention,
35:22
Speaker 1: They continue to have a way to impact the game.
35:25
Speaker 1: Does he have that ability to get open versus roll coverage?
35:28
Speaker 1: Can he handling teams assigned the number one corner to him?
35:33
Speaker 1: Can he win consistently? The number one receiver has to
35:36
Speaker 1: win against all comers. And I know you'll take this.
35:39
Speaker 1: I learned that from Bill Poland. Bill Poland says, no
35:41
Speaker 1: matter the coverage, no matter who they're facing, number one
35:43
Speaker 1: receivers have to show up. He has to be able
35:46
Speaker 1: to show up regardless of what is facing him. Did
35:49
Speaker 1: it look like that got him a little bit halfway
35:51
Speaker 1: through last year? A little bit, I think a little bit. Yeah.
35:57
Speaker 1: I think it's a stumbling block because what happens and
36:00
Speaker 1: what makes the NFL so great is when you begin
36:02
Speaker 1: to put things on film, defensive coordinators and defenders quickly
36:06
Speaker 1: adapt to who you are and what you show, so
36:08
Speaker 1: good players always continue to add stuff to the repertoire.
36:13
Speaker 1: They always continue to improve their game and find ways
36:16
Speaker 1: to get open. And so now that he is known
36:19
Speaker 1: and people know, ay, he is one of the guys
36:21
Speaker 1: that we have to defend. He is one of the
36:23
Speaker 1: guys that is highlighted in the scouting report when they
36:26
Speaker 1: stand up in front of the room and they read
36:28
Speaker 1: the scounting report to all the defenders. His name is
36:31
Speaker 1: one of the ones that they talk about. So now
36:33
Speaker 1: his challenge is how do I respond to the way
36:36
Speaker 1: that they responded to me. How do I counter what
36:39
Speaker 1: they have done to counteract some of the things that
36:41
Speaker 1: I did really well? That is when we'll see if
36:44
Speaker 1: he has an opportunity to go from good to great,
36:46
Speaker 1: because that's what the great ones do. Yeah, I know
36:49
Speaker 1: this team about the lost as they lost boy, they
36:52
Speaker 1: lost their names. But am I crazy to think that
36:57
Speaker 1: there's a chance that the defense won't drop off could
37:01
Speaker 1: be better with some of the additions they had. Meaning,
37:04
Speaker 1: you know, they've worked on the run defense, and I
37:07
Speaker 1: know Kis is still a front line player, but it
37:10
Speaker 1: just looks to me like improving the run defense on
37:13
Speaker 1: this team Adda and Joe Schobert, they've done some things
37:16
Speaker 1: that makes me think that it may not be I
37:18
Speaker 1: mean there were times last year the run defense they
37:20
Speaker 1: just couldn't do anything. If they stopped that, they improved.
37:23
Speaker 1: Could the defense be good enough this year? Yeah? You
37:27
Speaker 1: and you hear this because like the analytics guys will
37:30
Speaker 1: tell you that as the passing league and all those things,
37:32
Speaker 1: and it is, however, the best way to win games
37:36
Speaker 1: on defenses. You have to make the opposition one dimensional
37:39
Speaker 1: and you have to stop the run. You can let
37:41
Speaker 1: people have two way goals when it comes to being
37:43
Speaker 1: able to run it on you and throw it on you.
37:45
Speaker 1: And so Jackson absolutely has to improve the run defense.
37:48
Speaker 1: Given up over rushing yards twenty three rushing touchdowns, that's
37:52
Speaker 1: unacceptable in today's game. I do believe beating up the
37:56
Speaker 1: defensive tackles, adding those guys up front was sir in
38:00
Speaker 1: the heilp like more size, more girth. That part is
38:03
Speaker 1: a is a big part of the equation. And then
38:06
Speaker 1: Joe Sholbert coming in enabling Miles Jack to move to
38:09
Speaker 1: the other side on the second level that will help them.
38:11
Speaker 1: Joe Sherbet is a guy who has been attacking machine
38:14
Speaker 1: during his time with the Browns. He comes over, it
38:17
Speaker 1: allows Miles Jack to go back to being the running
38:20
Speaker 1: Chase playmaker that he was at U C l A.
38:22
Speaker 1: He will be a better player because he's in now
38:25
Speaker 1: a more natural position. And so if you can fortify
38:28
Speaker 1: those things and I'll never look this doesn't change. Championship
38:32
Speaker 1: defenses are strong down the middle. So when you look
38:35
Speaker 1: at the defensive tackles, Hamilton and Woods coming over, uh,
38:39
Speaker 1: Tavin Bryant hopefully improving and being a more consistent player
38:42
Speaker 1: at the point of attack. Then with Joe Sherbet and
38:44
Speaker 1: Miles Jack being able to be there consistently, Um, those
38:48
Speaker 1: things matter. If they can shore that up and forced
38:52
Speaker 1: teams to throw when everyone in the stadium knows they
38:54
Speaker 1: have to throw, that's when they're playing really, really good defense.
38:58
Speaker 1: A lot of National people back, you know how it's
39:00
Speaker 1: hard to cover thirty two teams. So sometimes when you
39:03
Speaker 1: talk to Nationally, but you don't get all the depths
39:06
Speaker 1: I think fans expect. But I know you follow this
39:09
Speaker 1: team closely. Tell me in an overview what you think
39:13
Speaker 1: of that when you think of the Jaguars in what
39:18
Speaker 1: do you think sort of defines your storylines for this team?
39:21
Speaker 1: What are you thinking about this team? Well, obviously we've
39:24
Speaker 1: talked about the quarterback the quarterback is gonna be front
39:26
Speaker 1: of mine because, uh, the quarterback plays such a key
39:28
Speaker 1: role in where the team's win or lose. He's decision making.
39:31
Speaker 1: He has the ball on every place. So that's a
39:33
Speaker 1: big part of it. I think the bigger part of it.
39:37
Speaker 1: When Jacksonville made the run, they made the run because
39:40
Speaker 1: of quote unquote Saxsonville because of the defense. Because the
39:44
Speaker 1: way the defense played. The defense has to play at
39:47
Speaker 1: a high level for them to get back. So I
39:50
Speaker 1: want to see, how does Josh Allen take his game
39:53
Speaker 1: up the second year, phenomenal, first season Pro bowler ten sacks.
39:58
Speaker 1: How does he play ken Yannick in got way, even
40:00
Speaker 1: though there's a conversation about him being on the trade
40:03
Speaker 1: block and all those other things. If he comes back,
40:05
Speaker 1: does he play at a high level, Because if you
40:07
Speaker 1: have two pass rushers. We've talked about the defensive tackles,
40:10
Speaker 1: and we talked about the improvements that they made uh
40:13
Speaker 1: at linebacker with Miles Jack into his natural position and
40:16
Speaker 1: Joe Schober coming over. Um, that gives them a chance
40:19
Speaker 1: calm and chasing what they're wanting to do with him.
40:23
Speaker 1: That is the big thing he is. He is an
40:25
Speaker 1: unknown because He's ethnic enough to be able to be
40:28
Speaker 1: incorporated and injected into the pass rush. But how do
40:31
Speaker 1: they use it? Because you already have in Gockway, you
40:34
Speaker 1: have alan to get him on the field. You may
40:36
Speaker 1: have to put him in a position that may not
40:38
Speaker 1: be his most natural. How do you use him to
40:42
Speaker 1: get him ready to maybe get some sack production from him?
40:45
Speaker 1: That's the key thing. And then look, I mean you
40:47
Speaker 1: use boy. A year before that you lost Ramsey, um
40:51
Speaker 1: c J. And Henderson has a lot of pressure on
40:53
Speaker 1: him to be that number one corner. Can a Ricky
40:56
Speaker 1: take on those responsibilities and have success? So to me,
41:00
Speaker 1: it's gonna mence you. And then the defense if they
41:03
Speaker 1: are outstanding, I won't even say at an a level.
41:06
Speaker 1: If they play B B plus football in those two
41:09
Speaker 1: areas at quarterback and on defense, that is gonna give
41:12
Speaker 1: them a chance to be very competitive in the South five.
41:20
Speaker 1: All right, this is the ozone five with Bucky Brothers.
41:23
Speaker 1: Bucky your last Binge watch? Oh um gosh, QB one?
41:30
Speaker 1: Do you one on Netflix? And last chance you? Those
41:33
Speaker 1: two things I can't I just can't stop watching. You
41:35
Speaker 1: didn't really have football? Is your last day? Just because
41:38
Speaker 1: you're an NFL guy, didn't you watch New Girl? Didn't?
41:42
Speaker 1: I didn't watch New Girl. But but if you want,
41:45
Speaker 1: if you want me to have a confession, I will.
41:47
Speaker 1: I will confess that I also binge watched Cheer which
41:50
Speaker 1: is a show on Netflix, which was Novarro the the
41:55
Speaker 1: competitive dance cheerleading team or whatever. I watched. I was
41:57
Speaker 1: fascinated by the team. So that's my all Right. I
42:01
Speaker 1: think I know the answer to this, and you'll be
42:03
Speaker 1: in trouble with your alma mater if if I'm wrong,
42:06
Speaker 1: Jordan's or Lebron. Man, it's tough, right because I love
42:10
Speaker 1: mj But man, what Lebron has been able to do
42:13
Speaker 1: watching him since he was eighteen, Like, Lebron is so
42:16
Speaker 1: unique and so gifted. So I'm gonna go Lebron. And
42:20
Speaker 1: I'm gonna hope that Mytorio, I'm gonna hope that my
42:23
Speaker 1: Tario family doesn't doesn't doesn't come down. Yeah they may
42:26
Speaker 1: kind of. Aftery on it your last shore down around
42:31
Speaker 1: the house, in me in the trash everything can't I can't.
42:34
Speaker 1: I can't have trash, can steel, so inde trash all
42:36
Speaker 1: over all over the house. Last station or song listened
42:41
Speaker 1: to in the car Oh, I just did a Peloton
42:44
Speaker 1: workout and it was a little Wayne playlist. So little
42:49
Speaker 1: Wayne was was top of mind, and that he's one
42:52
Speaker 1: of my faces anyway, so I wasn't mad at it.
42:54
Speaker 1: But yeah, PELOTONO was a little Wayne. I like it.
42:57
Speaker 1: I like it. Your favorite team growing regardless of sport,
43:01
Speaker 1: favorite team this one because my all, my mother, I
43:04
Speaker 1: love Carolina basketball. I grew up on Carolina basketball. Everything
43:07
Speaker 1: that I thought about team sports was kind of formed
43:10
Speaker 1: in shape from watching Carolina and Dean Smith. And the
43:12
Speaker 1: way to charge is play basketball. Well, Bucky, I think
43:15
Speaker 1: anybody who's listening to this shares what I'm feeling right now.
43:19
Speaker 1: I can't wait for this season get started. I'm looking
43:22
Speaker 1: forward to hearing your insight on all this, looking forward
43:24
Speaker 1: to sharing a lot of stories. Uh. I think it's
43:26
Speaker 1: gonna be a lot of fun. I appreciate you joining
43:28
Speaker 1: us for this, and I certainly look forward to working
43:31
Speaker 1: with you uh all seasons. So thank you very much
43:34
Speaker 1: and we will talk to you very soon. Thanks Jeff,
43:37
Speaker 1: thanks for having me on. I'm excited. I'm excited to
43:39
Speaker 1: be back a part of the Jaguars family. So I'm
43:42
Speaker 1: looking forward to doing more and more stuff with you guys.
43:45
Speaker 1: All right. That was Bucky Brooks and uh, Dave, I'm
43:48
Speaker 1: looking forward to this season having Bucky on. I told
43:50
Speaker 1: him that at the end, but that's heart felt. He's Uh.
43:54
Speaker 1: I think he's gonna add a lot to our coverage.
43:56
Speaker 1: And I do think he's a guy who you know,
43:59
Speaker 1: you've been with me a combine and Senior Bowls. Over
44:02
Speaker 1: the years. We've talked to countless NFL analysts about the Jaguars,
44:07
Speaker 1: and they all have something to add, and if you
44:10
Speaker 1: hit them with high hierarchy topics, they're all pretty good.
44:16
Speaker 1: But you know one thing I always tell fans when
44:19
Speaker 1: you talk to even somebody as good as Peter King
44:21
Speaker 1: or John Clayton, there's sometimes a limit to how deep
44:25
Speaker 1: a national analyst can go on a specific team because
44:28
Speaker 1: they've got thirty two to cover, and if the Jaguars
44:31
Speaker 1: are seven and nine or six and ten, they're not
44:33
Speaker 1: paying as much attention to the Jaguars as they are
44:36
Speaker 1: the Patriots or some teams in the playoffs. Bucky, whenever
44:39
Speaker 1: I talked to Hi about the Jags, I always get
44:41
Speaker 1: the feeling he knows it deeper than maybe any NFL analysts,
44:45
Speaker 1: maybe outside Prisco, Yeah, definitely, and kind of sometimes here
44:50
Speaker 1: I like kind of take people behind kind of the
44:53
Speaker 1: the Jaguars broadcasting curtains. So we started talking to Bucky
44:56
Speaker 1: about working with us this year back before the pandemics.
45:00
Speaker 1: I think we started talking about February March and the
45:03
Speaker 1: pandemic hits. So everything I got put on hold, um
45:07
Speaker 1: and we were gonna kind of revisit after the draft.
45:09
Speaker 1: But originally Bucky was supposed to be our TV analysts
45:12
Speaker 1: for this season during the preseason. It would have been great, yeah,
45:17
Speaker 1: classic on that and and the other part of it too,
45:19
Speaker 1: is uh just his base of knowledge is built for that,
45:22
Speaker 1: where you know, preseason have a lot of rookies, a
45:25
Speaker 1: lot of undrafted free agents, a lot of first year
45:28
Speaker 1: players who have been league But Bucky's broke him down
45:32
Speaker 1: because he doesn't draft the draft. Yeah, and because he's
45:34
Speaker 1: done the draft covers. So I was really excited about that.
45:37
Speaker 1: We had some kind of cool, unique things we're gonna
45:39
Speaker 1: try to do in the preseason broadcast, but no preseason
45:43
Speaker 1: this year, so so we kind of Buckey was supposed
45:47
Speaker 1: to was gonna do stuff with us all year, but
45:49
Speaker 1: we've kind of shift gears he's doing a little bit
45:51
Speaker 1: more with us during the year and I'm really looking
45:53
Speaker 1: forward to it. And from those early conversations we uh,
45:57
Speaker 1: you could tell he was really fired up to be
45:59
Speaker 1: back doing stuff with the Jaguars, and he's and we've
46:04
Speaker 1: kind of run into him, like you were saying, John
46:05
Speaker 1: at the combine or whatever. He's always sat down and
46:08
Speaker 1: been happy to do, you know, be a guest on
46:11
Speaker 1: our shows and all that kind of stuff. And you're right,
46:13
Speaker 1: just I think he always has had I don't want
46:15
Speaker 1: to speak for him, but it's always feels like going
46:18
Speaker 1: through this process and since he's been on like he
46:20
Speaker 1: has a place for the Jaguars, you know in his
46:23
Speaker 1: heart somewhere where he always puts an extra eye on
46:26
Speaker 1: what what what the Jags are doing. He was a
46:29
Speaker 1: good player, you know, as a fan of those teams,
46:32
Speaker 1: he may not have been a guy that it was
46:35
Speaker 1: necessarily on your radar, but as somebody who covered the team,
46:40
Speaker 1: he was a always very good in the locker room,
46:42
Speaker 1: always a very good quote. I'm not surprised he said
46:45
Speaker 1: in the podcast that he always respected the media. You
46:49
Speaker 1: can tell if you're inside the locker as much as
46:54
Speaker 1: I you can tell when a guy has some level
46:56
Speaker 1: of respect for what you do. Buck. He was always
46:59
Speaker 1: a guy that you went to him and asked him, Hey, Buck,
47:01
Speaker 1: what's going on with this? He would try to explain
47:04
Speaker 1: it to you. I he would treat you with respect.
47:07
Speaker 1: He would not sort of scoff at the questions, which
47:10
Speaker 1: some guys tend to do. So I'm not surprised that
47:14
Speaker 1: he has gone on to have success in the media
47:18
Speaker 1: and to be a part of it. And I think
47:21
Speaker 1: one of the things that I'm looking forward to the
47:23
Speaker 1: most and asking this question on these lines. There are
47:26
Speaker 1: times with ex players where they only come at it
47:31
Speaker 1: from a player's perspective, and a player's perspective is valuable,
47:35
Speaker 1: but sometimes a great player say you're you know, Leonard
47:39
Speaker 1: four Net, or you're a first round draft pick. They
47:42
Speaker 1: don't really realize what it takes when a GM is
47:46
Speaker 1: putting together a team, they've been drafted, they're handed the
47:50
Speaker 1: ball every day, and but they're not really that in
47:53
Speaker 1: tune with how the inner workings of the franchise operate. Well.
47:57
Speaker 1: Bucky has been on both sides, and now he's been
47:59
Speaker 1: in in the booth talking to GMS. He he's very
48:03
Speaker 1: tight and around he talks to jms round the league,
48:05
Speaker 1: so he knows sort of how all sides of it work.
48:08
Speaker 1: And I think it's gonna add a lot of perspectives
48:11
Speaker 1: and it will give a good national and local field
48:15
Speaker 1: of our broadcast. So I'm looking forward to it. And uh,
48:17
Speaker 1: I think fancy tell. He's a good guy, a lot
48:19
Speaker 1: of stories, and you know me, Dave, I'm always looking
48:22
Speaker 1: forward to talking to somebody about the nineties because that's
48:25
Speaker 1: when I was still young. Yes, I was very young
48:28
Speaker 1: in the nineties, but no, that's the cool thing is
48:31
Speaker 1: you don't run into many people who have been a player,
48:34
Speaker 1: been on the front office, and now I was doing
48:36
Speaker 1: it in the media. And it's just he has a
48:38
Speaker 1: good kind of rounded out perspective. I mean, I thought
48:41
Speaker 1: it was cool when he was talking about Jimmy and Keenan.
48:43
Speaker 1: He was kind of giving a little scouttering report on
48:44
Speaker 1: those guys, you know, from from his experience, and and
48:49
Speaker 1: I think, I think it's just a different perspective, which
48:52
Speaker 1: is cool, just to have kind of the scouts I
48:54
Speaker 1: if you will. I always find that's an interesting take
48:56
Speaker 1: on it, because it's it's not really you know, coaches
48:59
Speaker 1: have different perspective. There a different way to look at
49:02
Speaker 1: things and scouts and uh, and I think that's always
49:06
Speaker 1: kind of interesting. The other part of it too, right,
49:08
Speaker 1: it's not it does. It's not lost on me that like,
49:12
Speaker 1: well you asked him the ozone five question about what
49:14
Speaker 1: do you watch on Netflix? Was he gave two football shows. Uh,
49:19
Speaker 1: I'm the guy who lives in breeds football. I mean,
49:21
Speaker 1: he was a player who worked at scouting. Now he
49:23
Speaker 1: talks about football for a living and also he's a
49:25
Speaker 1: high school football coach on top of that. So it
49:29
Speaker 1: just loves it, eats breeds it and uh, I'm looking
49:31
Speaker 1: forward to working with them, and uh, I hope everybody
49:34
Speaker 1: out there enjoys it too. I think they will. And
49:37
Speaker 1: that'll do it for this week's of his own podcasts
49:40
Speaker 1: starting next week to get a little more into the
49:44
Speaker 1: heartbeat of season a Heartbeat of training Camp. If you will,
49:47
Speaker 1: we'll have more for you on that next week. But
49:49
Speaker 1: if you like these podcasts, subscribe to them as we close.
49:54
Speaker 1: As all the way they way to thank Davis Aganis
49:55
Speaker 1: for making me sound better than I am. Thank Joe
49:58
Speaker 1: Fortnado for doing the same. I hope this week finally
50:01
Speaker 1: that we didn't suck. Yeah,